(DND) Daily News Discussion - 5th May 2021 our YouTube channel for entire GS Course FREE of cost - Sleepy Classes
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Daily News
Discussion
(DND)
5th May 20 2 1
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Table of Contents
1. Environment ...........................................................................................................1
1.1.COVID in Asiatic Lions .........................................................................................................1
2. Science & Technology ..........................................................................................5
2.1.Oxygen Concentrator ...........................................................................................................5
2.2.Flaws in SUTRA’s approach .................................................................................................6
2.3.Ebola virus Disease (EVD)....................................................................................................7
3. Economy ..................................................................................................................9
3.1.Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) ....................................................9
3.2.Govt to provide Rs 15,000 crore to states for capital expenditure ..........................10
4. International Relations .......................................................................................11
4.1.U.S. sanctions may spur Adani to exit Myanmar ...........................................................11
4.2.India-USA Military agreement ...........................................................................................11
5. Polity .........................................................................................................................13
5.1.Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 ..............................................13
5.2.Fires in Public buildings ........................................................................................................13
Current affairs Worksheet ( 5th May 2021) ..........................................................................16
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1. Environment
1.1.COVID in Asiatic Lions
• Eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park have tested positive for the deadly
coronavirus, perhaps the rst known case of the human infecting the felines and making them sick in
India.
About
• Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology- Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species
(CCMB-LaCONES) informed the forest authorities that the RT-PCR tests of these big cats were
positive.
• Central Zoo Authority con rmed that based on detailed diagnostic tests and report as shared by
CCMB-LaCONES, it has now been con rmed that eight Asiatic lions housed in NZP have tested
positive for SARS-CoV2 virus
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Lion Census
• 2020 count was estimated not from a Census, but from a population “observation” exercise called
Poonam Avlokan.
Why was the Lion Census not conducted in 2020
• Conducted once every ve years, the Lion Census was due on June 5-6 this year, but was postponed
after the lockdown
• Bronx Zoo in New York had reported a case of transmission of novel coronavirus from a human to a
tigress.
How were the numbers estimated?
• Through Poonam Avlokan, which is a monthly in-house exercise carried out every full moon.
• Field staff and of cers spend 24 hours assessing the number of lions and their locations in their
respective jurisdictions.
• It was a mechanism developed by the Forest Department in 2014 as part of preparations for the
2015 Lion Census.
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How is this ‘observation’ different from a regular census?
• The Lion Census involves larger participation. Around 2,000 of cers, experts and volunteers were
involved in the 2015 Census. That makes the Census more transparent. The lion ‘observation’ this
month was conducted by around 1,400 forest staff and a few experts.
• The Lion Census usually runs for more than two days, including a preliminary census and a nal
census.
• It is done using the block counting method — in which census enumerators remain stationed at
water points in a given block and estimate abundance of lions in that block, based on direct sighting of
lions who need to drink water at least once in 24 hours during the summer.
Has the Lion Census ever been postponed before?
• The rst Lion Census was conducted by the Nawab of Junagadh in 1936
• Since 1965, the Forest Department has been regularly conducting the Lion Census every ve years.
• The 6th, 8th and 11th Censuses were each delayed by a year, for various reasons.
• The 2015 Census had counted 523 lions, up from 411 in 2010. But 12 lions were killed in a ash
ood in Amreli just a month after the 2015 cenus, followed by deaths of more than two dozen lions in
an outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV) and babesiosis in 2018.
Central zoo Authority
• The CZA is the body of the government responsible for oversight of zoos constituted under the
section 38A of Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972.
Objective
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• Grant of recognition and release of nancial assistance.
• Regulates the exchange of animals of endangered category Listed under Schedule-I and II of the
Wildlife (Protection) Act among zoos.
• Exchange of animals between Indian and foreign zoos is also approved by the Authority before the
requisite clearances under EXIM Policy and the CITES permits are issued by the competent authority.
Composition
• Apart from the chairman, it consists of 10 members and a member-secretary.
• Almost all of them are of cials in the Environment Ministry and NGO experts are those who are
wildlife conservationists or retired forest of cers.
• Recently The Environment Ministry has reconstituted the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to include
an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture Delhi, and a molecular biologist.
LaCONES
• Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species, is a Council of Scienti c and Industrial
Research lab located in Hyderabad.
• It was established in 1998 with the help of Central Zoo Authority of India and CSIR
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2. Science & Technology
2.1.Oxygen Concentrator
• With the demand for medical oxygen continuing unabated and several
States struggling to keep pace with demand, the oxygen concentrator
has emerged as a sought after device
• Unlike medical oxygen sourced from industrial units, which are supplied
via cylinders, concentrators are devices that can be operated at home.
What does a concentrator do?
• An oxygen concentrator takes in air and separates the oxygen and
delivers it into a person via a nasal cannula.
• Air is 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and a concentrator that works by
plugging into a source of electricity delivers air that is upto 95%
oxygen.
• In respiratory infections that causes oxygen saturation levels to dip below 90%, having an external
device supply pure oxygen eases the burden on the lungs.
• However in cases of severe respiratory distress, it may be necessary to provide oxygen that is almost
99% pure and an oxygen concentrator is not up to that job
How does it work?
• A concentrator consists of a compressor and sieve bed lter.
• The former squeezes atmospheric air and also adjusts the pressure at which it is delivered.
• The sieve bed is made of a material called Zeolite that separates the nitrogen.
• There are two sieve beds that work to both release oxygen into a tank that’s connected to the
cannula as well as release the separated nitrogen and form a continuous loop that keeps producing
fresh oxygen.
When is an oxygen concentrator needed?
• When blood saturation levels drop below 94%, it could be a sign of respiratory distress. Usually this
merits hospitalisation, but due to the surge in COVID-19 cases and oxygen beds in short supply, the
device could help those whose saturation levels range between 88 and 92 if they can’t access
hospital services.
Are all concentrators the same?
• These products come with a variety of speci cations. There are those with varying oxygen outputs.
• For COVID-19 patients, a device with a 5L-10 L output is recommended.
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2.2.Flaws in SUTRA’s approach
• With close to 4,00,000 cases being added every day, questions are being raised by some scientists on
whether a government- backed model, called SUTRA, to forecast the rise and ebb of the COVID-19
pandemic, may have had an outsize role in creating the perception that a catastrophic second wave of
the pandemic was unlikely in India.
Flaws in SUTRA Model
• Second wave would peak by the third week of April and stay at around 1 lakh cases. Clearly the model
predictions in this instance were incorrect
• The predictions of the SUTRA model were too variable to guide government policy.
• Didn’t work well on a metric of predicting the future under different scenarios
• SUTRA model was problematic as it relied on too many parameters
• If you keep resetting those parameters, you can literally t anything
• The scientists from IIT-Kanpur and Hyderabad applied the Susceptible, Undetected, Tested
(positive), and Removed Approach (SUTRA) model to predict that active cases would go up by over
10 lakh by mid-May.
SUTRA model
• Previous papers divided the patient population into asymptomatic and Infected, the new model also
accounts for the fact that some fraction of asymptomatic patients could also be detected due to
contact tracing and other such protocols.
Three Parameters
Beta
• The rst is called beta, or contact rate, which measures how many people an infected person infects
per day.
• It is related to the R0 value, which is the number of people an infected person spreads the virus to
over the course of their infection
• The beta value across India has gone up by 50% in March, which indicates that a combination of
factors – people becoming more relaxed, and more infectious variants going around
Reach
• is a measure of the exposure level of the population to the pandemic
• The reason to introduce ‘reach’ is that unlike earlier pandemics which start at a location and suddenly
spread fast across a place, in COVID, the spread of the pandemic has been slower due to the many
protective measures in place
Epsilon
• is the ratio of detected and undetected cases.
• Helps factor in the number of asymptomatic infections across the country.
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• Since the detected cases are quarantined, we assume they no longer contribute to new infections.
• So a growing number of daily new cases, re ect larger undetected infections.
• By measuring the number of new cases each day, we try to estimate the undetected and
asymptomatic infections
2.3.Ebola virus Disease (EVD)
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) has of cially declared the end of the
12th Ebola outbreak. The outbreak declared
on February , 2021
About Ebola
• The Ebola virus (RNA) causes an acute,
serious illness which is often fatal if
untreated.
✓EVD rst appeared in 1976 in 2
simultaneous outbreaks, one in what is
now Nzara, South Sudan, and the other in
Yambuku, DRC. The latter occurred in a
village near the Ebola River, from which
the disease takes its name.
The Ebola river
• The Ebola River also commonly known by its indigenous name Legbala, is the headstream of the
Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo River
Transmission
Natural host
• It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts.
Animal to Human
• Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions,
organs or other bodily uids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys,
forest antelope found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Human to Human
• Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin
or mucous membranes) with:
✓Blood or body uids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola
✓Objects that have been contaminated with body uids (like blood, feces, vomit) from a person sick
with Ebola or the body of a person who died from Ebola
• Burial ceremonies that involve direct contact with the body of the deceased can also contribute in
the transmission of Ebola.
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• Pregnant women who get acute Ebola and recover from the disease may still carry the virus in
breastmilk, or in pregnancy related uids and tissues. This poses a risk of transmission to the baby
they carry, and to others
Symptoms of EVD can be sudden and include:
• Fever , Fatigue , Muscle pain , Headache , Vomiting , Diarrhoea
• In some cases, both internal and external bleeding (for example, oozing from the gums, or blood in the
stools).
Vaccine
• A vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV is currently being used in the DRC outbreak, as it is proven to be
highly protective against the Ebolavirus
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3. Economy
3.1.Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)
• Recently Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for
Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as a member
Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)
• Launched at At the Paris “One Planet Summit” in December 2017
• It is a group of Central Banks and Supervisors willing, on a voluntary basis, to exchange experiences,
share best practices, contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management
in the nancial sector, and to mobilize mainstream nance to support the transition toward a
sustainable economy.
• Its purpose is to de
ne and promote best practices to be implemented within and outside of the
Membership of the NGFS and to conduct or commission analytical work on green nance.
Purpose of the Network for Greening the Financial System
• The Network’s purpose is to help strengthening the global response required to meet the goals of the
Paris agreement
• To enhance the role of the nancial system to manage risks and to mobilize capital for green and
low-carbon investments in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.
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3.2.Govt to provide Rs 15,000 crore to states for capital
expenditure
• The Centre recently announced decision to provide an additional amount of upto Rs 15,000 crore to
states as interest- free 50-year loan for spending on capital projects.
About
• Under the scheme, nancial assistance is provided to state governments in the form of 50-year
interest free loan
First part of scheme
• The rst part of scheme is for North-east and hill states and an amount of Rs 2,600 crore has been
earmarked. Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will get Rs 400 crore each while remaining
states in this group have been allocated Rs 200 crore each
Second part of scheme
• The second part of scheme is for all other states with an amount of Rs 7,400 crore. This amount has
been allocated among states in proportion to their share of central taxes as per the award of 15th
Finance Commission for 2021-22
Third part of Scheme
• The third part of scheme is for providing incentives to states for monetisation or recycling of
infrastructure assets and disinvestment of state public sector enterprises. An amount of Rs 5,000
crore is allocated.
Signi cance
• Capital expenditure creates employment, especially for the poor and unskilled, has a high multiplier
effect, enhances the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of
economic growth
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4. International Relations
4.1.U.S. sanctions may spur Adani to exit Myanmar
• Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. said recently it could abandon a Myanmar container
terminal project ,if it is found to be in violation of sanctions imposed by the U.S.
About
• Myanmar is classi ed as a sanctioned country under the Of ce of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
• OFAC, part of the U.S. Treasury Department, administers and enforces economic and trade
sanctions based on the country’s foreign policy.
• A military coup in Myanmar on February 1 and an ensuing crackdown on mass protests has drawn
sanctions on military- controlled entities.
The Of ce of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
• The Of ce of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and
enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals
against foreign countries, regimes, terrorists, and similar forces that are engaged in activities
related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other acts that may be considered as
threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States of America (US).
Nature of Sanctions
• The nature of sanctions imposed by the US is two pronged, i.e. Primary and Secondary.
Primary sanctions
• are in the nature of asset freezing, trade embargos, and a prohibition on US citizens and companies
from engaging with country.
Secondary sanctions
• place an embargo on third-party countries, its citizens and companies with no nexus to the US, for
dealing with sanctioned countries.
• Secondary sanctions are invariably extra-territorial in nature and raise important questions about
legitimacy, international law principles, and the concept of sovereignty.
4.2.India-USA Military agreement
General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA)
• It was signed in 2002
• Aim to facilitate sharing military intelligence between India and the USA.
Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)?
• COMCASA was signed in September 2018
• The pact allows the US to provide India with its encrypted communications equipment and systems
so that Indian and US military commanders, and the aircraft and ships of the two countries, can
communicate through secure networks during times of both peace and war.
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• The signing of COMCASA paved the way for the transfer of communication security equipment
from the US to India to facilitate “interoperability” between their forces — and potentially with other
militaries that use US-origin systems for secure data links.
Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) about
• LEMOA allows the militaries of the US and India to replenish from each other’s bases, and access
supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can
then be reimbursed.
• LEMOA is extremely useful for India-US Navy-to-Navy cooperation, since the two countries are
cooperating closely in the Indo-Paci c.
• While India had indeed provided ad hoc logistics support to the US in the past — such as allowing the
refuelling of American aircraft in Bombay during the rst Gulf War in 1991, and letting US warships
visit Indian ports during the war on terror after 9/11— the signing of LEMOA has institutionalised
this process and made it smoother
Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)?
• BECA will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence that will enhance the
accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones.
• Through the sharing of information on maps and satellite images, it will help India access
topographical and aeronautical data, and advanced products that will aid in navigation and targeting.
• This could be key to Air Force-to-Air Force cooperation between India and the US.
• BECA will provide Indian military systems with a high-quality GPS to navigate missiles with real-
time intelligence to precisely target the adversary.
• Besides the sailing of ships, ying of aircraft, ghting of wars, and location of targets, geospatial
intelligence is also critical to the response to natural disasters.
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5. Polity
5.1.Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011
• According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Importers of medical devices, used particularly for
providing oxygen support to Covid-19 patients, are now allowed to import these devices without
prior mandatory declaration for the next three months.
About Legal Metrology Act,2009
• Objective: To establish and enforce standards of weights and measures, regulate trade and
commerce in weights, measures and other goods which are sold or distributed by weight, measure
or number.
About rules
• The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, make it mandatory to get the approvals
prior to the import.
• Intended to ensure that the consumers are able to make informed choices by being informed of
essential declarations on the pre-packed commodities.
• Declaration about the manufacturer: Goods displayed by the seller on e-commerce platform shall
contain declarations required under the Rules like name & Address of the manufacturer, packer and
importer, name of the commodity, net content, retail sale price, consumer care complaint, dimension
etc
• No person shall declare different MRPs (dual MRP) on an identical pre-packaged commodity, unless
allowed under any law.
5.2.Fires in Public buildings
• Fires occur in many public buildings in India every year, killing a large number of people and injuring
many.
NCRB ndings
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) says 330 people died in commercial building res in
2019, while fatalities for residential or dwelling buildings were much higher at 6,329.
Reason
• Electrical faults are cited as the leading cause of res
• State governments being lax with building safety laws and for failing to equip public buildings with
modern technology.
• Hospital ICUs (intensive care units) are a great re risk because they are oxygen-suffused, and need
to meet high standards.
What re safety compliance is expected in public buildings, including hospitals?
• At the centre of all standard-setting is the National Building Code of India.
• Part 4 of the Code deals with Fire and Life Safety.
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• The document provides speci cations and guidelines for design and materials that reduce the threat
of destructive res.
• Under the Code, all existing and new buildings are classied by nature of use, such as residential,
educational, institutional, assembly (like cinemas and auditoria), business, mercantile, industrial,
storage and hazardous.
• Hospitals come under the institutional category
National Building Code (NBC)
• Published by the Bureau of Indian Standards, is a “recommendatory document”, and States have
been asked to incorporate it into their local building bylaws, making the recommendations a
“mandatory requirement”
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
• Stipulated requirements for re safety in public buildings, including hospitals, which incorporate
elements of the NBC, besides design guidelines on maintaining minimum open safety space,
protected exit mechanisms, dedicated staircases, and crucial drills to carry out evacuations.
• The Health Ministry had circulated strict guidelines in September 2020 stipulating third-party
accreditation for re safety and that a re response plan should be in place.
Recommendation of NDC
• NBC recommends the location of buildings by type of use in speci
c zones to ensure that industrial
and hazardous structures do not coexist with residential, institutional, of ce and business
buildings.
• It speci es the technical requirements for special buildings, high rises, educational and institutional
buildings higher than 9 metres, and those with an area of over 300 square metres.
• Code drills down into the speci cs of re resistance based on the materials used — exterior walls,
interior bearing walls, oor, roof, re check doors, re enclosure exits, and so on.
• Technologies to sound alerts in case of a re and also to ght it are expected to be incorporated into
buildings.
Do State governments follow the Code?
Maharashtra
• Maharashtra, which has been hit by a series of res, has a Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures
Act since 2008.
• Section 3 of the Act makes the provisions of the NBC mandatory and Schedule I of the State’s law is
borrowed from the Code.
• However, reports in the wake of recent re accidents indicate that the authorities have been unable
to keep up with inspection requirements for thousands of buildings.
Kerala
• In Kerala, the rules prescribe re ghting equipment and installations that meet “Indian Standards”,
but do not contain a direct reference to the NBC.
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Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu’s form for a re licence, required under the Fire Service Act read with municipal law, is
even broader, and no reference is found for compliance with the Code.
What is the future course?
• Last
year, the Supreme Court directed all States to carry out re safety audits of dedicated
COVID-19 hospitals.
• It has become evident that State forces lack the manpower to inspect and ensure compliance with
safety codes, including the NBC, where it is mandatory.
• One option is to make heavy re liability insurance compulsory for all public buildings, which would
offer protection to occupants and visitors and bring about external inspection of safety.
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Current affairs Worksheet ( 5th May 2021)
Factual sheet for Quick revision
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